The benefits of telecommuting are many. For employees, the option to work from home will improve morale, save costs, and upgrade productivity. On the other hand, for the employer it means higher retention employees, cost savings in work space and energy. And it goes without saying that a productive and high-morale work force would mean more profitability for a business.
However, there are several things to consider before a company offers the telecommuting option to its employees.
First of all, an employer must determine carefully if a job or position is appropriate for telecommuting.
Supervisors and manager of telecommuters must also realize what is required to effectively supervise the work of home-based staff. This may include on-site visits, monitoring by phone or by e-mail, and more performance reviews.
It is obvious that when a position requires a great deal of face-to-face contact with co-workers, supervisors or customers, telecommuting is not an option.
Many types of information based jobs are, however, ideal for the telecommuting job model.
A suggestion from www.TelecommuteCT.com is: “First, look at the kind of work they do. The types of tasks most suitable for telecommuting are portable — those that can be performed from anywhere. Given the appropriate communications and computing capabilities, most jobs contain some tasks that can be performed as easily from home as they can from the office.”
The site lists down some of these tasks:
Portable tasks:
Analysis
Auditing
Batch work
Calculation
Computer programming
Conducting business by phone
Data entry
Design
Dictating
Documents (writing, editing)
Engineering
Evaluations
Field visits
Graphics
Proposals
Transcribing
Jobs with telecommuting potentials
Accountant
Advertising Executive
Applications Programmer
Architect
Attorney
Auditor
Bookkeeper
CAD/Cam Engineer
Central Files Clerk
Chief Executive Officer
Clinical Psychologist
Manager
Civil Engineer
Clerk Typist
Data Entry Clerk
Data Search Specialist
Design Engineer
Economist
Financial Analyst
Graphic Artist
Industrial Engineer
Insurance Broker
Journalist
Laboratory Director
Market Analyst
Marketing Manager
Natural Scientist
Office Manager
Purchasing
Radio Newscaster
Realtor
Software Engineer
Statistician
Stock Analyst
Stock Broker
Technical Writer
Telemarketer